IHS Update

Our shortest month is always made shorter by the break. It seems as though February just started and now it's almost March. This chilly and snowy winter remind me of our winters of old, but with each year that goes by, I am less tolerant of the cold and look forward to spring more and more. We are currently heating the building with one 25 year-old boiler...the single digit temps have certainly been putting it to the test. We hope to get the #2 boiler patched up, but it will likely need replacing in the next year.

As a district that receives federal Title 1 money, we are required to share our district "report card" with parents. The MA Department of Education does a nice job with the user interface, allowing parents to pick-and-choose what sort of data they want to dive into. The report card looks almost like an FAQ page with questions about drop-out rate, standardized test performance, and college matriculation just to name a few. You can check it out here. You may remember that Ipswich High School was selected as one of 63 DESE "Schools of Recognition" as a result of our year-over-year improvement on the MCAS.

Our winter sports season is winding down, and several of our teams have had great seasons. Pictured above, our co-op girls hockey team with Beverly HS won the Northeast Conference title. Captain Asuka Keough had a hat trick in the game that clinched the championship for the girls. Other Ipswich players, including Kirsten Cole, Sarah Belford, Phoebe Allen, Aubrey Kelleher, Maddie McCarthy, Paige O'Keefe, and Mia Dugdale, make up a big portion of the championship team. Having won six out of their last seven games, the boys basketball team is 12-7 and ranked #12, thereby earning their first tournament spot in years. The girls basketball team is 10-10 and will be playing a "play-in" game for their state tournament- quite a turnaround from last year when they were winless. Both the boys and the girls swim teams are 1-3 going into the final meet of the season this weekend at MIT. The boys indoor track team is 2-2 and the girls indoor track team is 4-0 with both squads going into the "Meet of Champions" at "The Track" at the New Balance Center this weekend. Despite a 4-14 record, the boys co-op hockey team is ranked #26 because of strength-of-schedule and is tournament bound, potentially facing Martha's Vineyard in the first round. The girls co-op gymnastics team ended up 7-1, coming in second in the league to Masconomet after a close final meet of the year. The boys co-op ski team is 8-6 and the girls co-op ski team is 7-4-1.

NEW: Ipswich Travel Softball has moved to a different league for this Spring Season and divisions are now age-based rather than grade-based. This means that 9th graders are allowed to play as long as they were 14 years old or younger as of 9/1/2025.

Students have begun to submit their course requests for next year, and we will soon begin to put together the schedule for the next school year. Counselors met with students during R blocks this past week to walk them through the process and help them make their selections. Departments will be meeting to review AP course requests by mid-March. Our expectation is to have draft student schedules available by the time school closes in June. The easiest way to see your student's course requests is to have them log into Aspen and show you.

Pictured above, Ms. Morrison's ceramics class tackles the daunting potter's wheel.

Later this spring, we will begin testing students interested in earning the state's Seal of Biliteracy that will be placed on the diplomas of students who qualify. This distinction can be earned by scoring in the "Meeting Expectations" category on the ELA MCAS with a score of 472 or higher plus scoring at least Intermediate-High on the STAMP test that we will be administering. Students can earn a Seal of Biliteracy with Distinction by scoring Advanced on the ELA MCAS with a score of 500 or above and a score of Advanced-Low or greater on the STAMP test. Students can take the STAMP test in languages other than what we offer at Ipswich High. We have had kids qualify in the language spoken at home if it is other than English (e.g. Portuguese, Hungarian, German, etc.) Have your student check in with their World Language teacher for more information.

• Parents report serious traffic jams at drop-off time in the morning, especially between 7:40 and 7:44. For student drop-offs, please pull as far forward as possible, and encourage your student to have their stuff ready to go BEFORE pulling up to the curb. Please avoid stopping in the "passing" or left lane for drop offs because doing so bottles things up. That said, please be sure to check to your left when pulling away from the curb!
• Choralfest is Wednesday, February 25th @ 7 pm in the Dolan Performing Arts Center
• The Grade 10 ELA MCAS will be administered on March 24th and 25th.
• Students are NOT allowed to use their personal laptops at school. They must have a charged, school-issued Chromebook with them at all times. The exception to this rule is seniors with "senior privilege"
• The date for Junior Prom has been set for May 16th. The district calendar is a helpful website to bookmark for reference.